Many businesses would like to provide information to and interact with potential customers outside of normal business hours. To do so normally requires that a business stay open for longer hours and pay its staff for additional working time. In order to avoid increased operational costs, some businesses have simply settled for displaying information in their windows or storefronts in order to provide customers with information after normal business hours. Still, while customers can review information posted in a store window after normal business hours, they cannot practically supply feedback to the business or request further information until the business reopens.
As a solution to the problem of providing information to and interacting with potential customers outside of normal business hours, a business may provided access to a computer system, such as by way of a kiosk situated external to the business premises. A potential customer may interact with the computer system in order to review information displayed on the computer display screen and to provide further feedback or request additional information from the business. Computer systems can also be used to facilitate a purchase using credit card numbers, bankcards numbers or other financial account identifiers without the customer needing to enter the business premises and interact with the businesses staff.
A touch panel display system (i.e., a touch panel display screen coupled with a computer system) can be useful in a kiosk environment. A touch panel display screen can provide an intuitive method by which people can easily interact with and control certain functions performed by a computer system. Furthermore, a touch panel display screen can display icon elements representing a keyboard to allow the user to key in text to the associated computer system. An interactive graphical representation of a keyboard can eliminate the need to configure the computer system with a physical keyboard and/or other peripheral input devices (e.g., a mouse).
One type of touch panel display screen can be constructed by capacitance forming elements formed integrally into the display screen. The user placing a finger or stylus on the display screen will change the capacitance in a particular region of the display screen, thereby indicating to the computer system which area of the display screen has been touched. Other types of touch panel displays transmit energy beams across the face of the display screen. These energy beams are typically transmitted in an arrangement of columns and rows. When a finger or stylus interrupts an intersecting column and row of energy beams, the computer system can detect which area of the display screen has been touched.
Touch panel display screens that emit beams of energy across the face of the display screen can be highly susceptible to component failure. Such a system will not be able to accurately detect the touch of a user in an area of the display screen that is covered by a failed emitter and/or a failed detector. A failed emitter and/or detector can also result in the system being unable to detect any touches at all in a particular area of the display screen. Furthermore, if the emitters or detectors become dirty, their ability to detect or transmit energy beams will be impaired and will lead to the same problems as if the components had failed.
As compared with regular (non-touch panel) display devices, touch panel display screens are relatively expensive and time consuming to produce. Because of the higher cost of touch panel display screens, they are not used widely in applications where they can be damaged, easily stolen or exposed to weather. Thus, touch panel display systems have heretofore been undesirable for use in unattended kiosk environments, which are extremely vulnerable to theft, vandalism or damage by passers-by and can deteriorate or be damaged if not sufficiently protected from adverse weather conditions. While kiosks can be constructed such that most or all of the hardware components of the computer system are secured within a permanent protective enclosure, such a protective enclosure can be relatively expensive to implement. Furthermore, in a touch panel display system implementation, at least the touch panel display screen must remain exposed from the protective enclosure.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a touch panel display system that has a reduced susceptibility to component failure or dirt build-up on components resulting from vandalism, improper use, or exposure to weather. There is a further need for an improved touch panel display system that limits the user's direct access to the touch panel display screen, while still allowing the user to interact with the touch panel display screen.